Sports fan. Connoisseur of good music (especially on vinyl). Consumer of the finest craft beers. Environmental activist. History geek. Dudeist Priest. Hunter S. Thompson junkie. And I write a little. Mostly though, I’m a dad. But I am unlike my dad. I am still the breadwinner, but laundry, cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, hugging, crying, disciplining and nurturing are also part of my routine. I am a domestic machine…I am, like many dads of my generation, The Domestic Warrior.

Sunday, October 7, 2018

Worth the Wait

As published in The County Times (countytimes.somd.com)

By Ronald N. Guy Jr.

It was late September last year, Maggie, and we were
already back to school.The Philadelphia
Eagles weren’t yet a quarter of the way into their season.The Washington Capitals were a few weeks out
from starting theirs.Like the many
to-be-determined semester grades, the football team from the nation’s one-time
capital and the hockey team from its current one were mysteries yet to unfold.

Both teams were at a crossroads.The Eagles were figuring out what they might
become behind new franchise quarterback Carson Wentz.The Caps, meanwhile, had completed an
offseason of curious roster tweaks that, after a couple years of pushing hard
for a Stanley Cup, appeared to leave the team farther away from the sport’s
elusive summit.

Different sports.Different towns.Different (to be
kind) fan bases.Everything in common.

Last fall there were a scant few fans of any
professional sport capable of understanding the plight of Eagles and Capitals
supporters.Despite the visceral rivalry
between the cities, they had only each other - a long-suffering and inseparable
party of two.Misery indeed does love
company, even if, for Caps fans, the company’s a little unrefined.

In 2017, the resumes of these two star-crossed franchises
read like a never-ending tale of brutal medieval torture.The Eagles, after several lean years, had
considerable success under head coach Dick Vermeil in the late 70s and early
80s.A decade later Philadelphia make
four playoff appearances in five seasons behind defensive stalwarts Reggie White,
Jerome Brown and Clyde Simmons.

But Philly’s torment was just beginning.Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb arrived in 1999 and
together dominated the NFC East and, for several seasons, were the class of the
NFC Conference.It was a golden era in
Eagles football.It seemed inevitable
that they would win…

Through all of these eras of winning Eagles football, the
Caps were consistently killing it - playoff appearances in all but seven
seasons since 1982, too-many-to-count division titles and three Presidents’
Trophies.In the wild and unpredictable
world of the NHL playoffs, statistical chance would indicate that the Caps
would win…

For over three decades, the Eagles and Caps practically
matched playoff collapses.For every
home NFC Championship loss by the Eagles, the Caps could offer two unconscionable
Game 7 heartaches.But perhaps worst of
all, fans of these two ultimate teases endured championship seasons by arch
rivals like the Cowboys, Giants and ‘Skins and the Penguins, Rangers and Devils.

Then the karmic forces shifted.In 2016, after the Cavaliers brought
Cleveland a championship and the Chicago Cubs won the World Series, I started
to believe that the Caps winning a Stanley Cup was possible.I trust there were Eagles fans thinking the
same for their beloved birds.

And then it actually happened: the Philadelphia Eagles
won the Super Bowl in February and four months later the Washington Capitals
won the Stanley Cup.Now both are
embarking on victory lap seasons as reigning champs.It’s still surreal.

I’ve talked to a few Eagles fans in recent months.They seem unburdened.Validated.Less, shall we say, goon-ish.Most have mentioned on-going Super Bowl victory tears - uncontrollable
emotion rooted in decades of pain.Complete
euphoria would succinctly described their victory parade.I trust Eagles fans saw a mirror image of
their post-Super Bowl selves as Caps fans celebrated their first Stanley Cup
championship a few months later.One-time
brothers and sisters in misery are now brothers and sisters in sweet victory.

Life owes you nothing.But for sanity’s sake, there has to be some semblance of fairness and
equity.Right?Kindergarten taught us to share – to take
turns!Right?From this Caps fans to all Eagles fans: we
deserved this.It was finally our
turn.It felt like the first time
because, after so, so many years of suffering, it was.Tom Petty once sang, “The waiting is the
hardest part.”True indeed.It is also said that anything worth having is
worth waiting for.The Super Bowl title
for Philadelphia and Stanley Cup championship for Washington certainty were.